


5 Times Commander Maddox Tried to Ask Dr Dalias On A Date

by bucketmouse



Category: EOS 10 (Podcast)
Genre: 5 Times, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 05:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16486970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bucketmouse/pseuds/bucketmouse
Summary: Maddox JUST wants to ask the hot doctor out on a date but the whole station seems set to not let that happen.





	5 Times Commander Maddox Tried to Ask Dr Dalias On A Date

I.  
Maddox actually considered asking Doctor Dalias out on a date on their first meeting. He was a sucker for men with dry wit and a nice ass, even if those scrubs clung to his tightly enough that Maddox would swear they had to be out of regulation. For once he didn’t really mind. 

He ultimately decided against making a move then, however. For one it was a little awkward asking a man out when you were mostly naked on their exam table and for another he just met the doctor and while there was no visible ring for all Maddox knew he was happily married. 

Under other circumstances he would have considered the rare but not impossible chance of heterosexuality as well, but that seemed like a safe bet against in the doctor’s case, so that never crossed Maddox’s mind. He’d see Doctor Dalias around again. He could ask then. 

 

II.  
The second time Maddox ran into Dalias in the food court was actually purely accidental. He realized from the cringe on Ryan’s face the second he caught Maddox’s eye that he might have come on too strong with the whole ‘maybe you’re the evil one’ thing. He also realized that it was a possibility that the feeling of antagonistic flirting in that conversation might have been entirely one sided. 

Sure, Doctor Urvidian had been there too and that _might_ have contributed to Ryan not getting the sexy vibe Maddox was going for. He’d have to clarify. Raising his hand and gesturing for Ryan to come over, the doctor looked conflicted for a moment before realizing there were no other free seats in the food court and making his way over with caution. 

“So, I’m getting that we might have gotten off on the wrong foot,” David tried to clarify as Ryan set his tray down across from David, watching him like a potentially rabid animal. David had never been watched like a dangerous animal before, not by anyone he wasn’t trying to arrest. 

He kinda liked it. 

“Just a little,” Ryan agreed. 

“Right. So, see. The thing is -”

Ryan’s comm rang out, the interface’s voice cutting Maddox off to alert Ryan that there was a medical emergency in engineering deck five. Ryan didn’t hesitate before responding that he was on his way. He looked sadly down at his food. 

“... I’ll get it boxed and dropped off in med bay,” Maddox offered. Ryan looked up at him in genuine surprise, and Maddox couldn’t quite quell the grin that came up from the sincerity of the expression on the doctor’s face. 

“... Thank you. Uh… yeah. Thanks. I guess I’ll see you around?” Ryan offered, and Maddox nodded. 

While he didn’t manage to ask the doctor out on a date, Maddox still counted that as a win. 

 

III.  
The third time was at _Chez Levi_. It was also a bad time to have asked so ultimately it worked out that David didn’t find his tongue in time to do so, but the image suck in his mind for a long time after. 

A fight had broken out between a centaurian and his boyfriend at the cafe. David never got a clear reason but the common rumor was cheating. Maddox was there because, well, security. Medical was called as well because one of the patrons managed to get stabbed with a bottle, though the culprit was still at large. Personally, Maddox suspected Levi but had no proof. Ryan was on call, but the fight was still going when Ryan arrived and he got a drink thrown at him. 

So that was the scene Maddox walked in on. Doctor Ryan Dalias, scrub shirt wet to the point of being transparent thanks to the particular blend of that drink he got doused with, laser focus attention none the less on his injured patient. Maddox was dumbstruck for a good half a minute. 

“... Ryan-” he started, fully intent on asking of the doctor wanted to go back to his place later, before someone in the tussle spotted him and shouted for security again. Ryan misunderstood Maddox’s call anyway, quickly telling him that this one wasn’t involved in the fight and shooing him off to those that needed to be arrested. 

Later on Maddox found out that the same thing that made Ryan’s scrub shirt go transparent also left him with minor chemical burns, so it was probably good fortune that Maddox hadn’t gotten him back to his quarters that night anyway. He still couldn’t stop thinking of it. At least, not until the next time he tried to ask Ryan out. 

 

IV.  
You really really _really_ couldn’t tell his spine was a prosthetic. Ryan was a swimmer, apparently. David found this out when he saw Ryan doing laps in the pool and oh boy that swimsuit left NOTHING to the imagination. It was even better than seeing him in the wet shirt. His chemical burns were mostly healed by then, just a faint reddening of his skin around his chest and shoulder where the worst of the soaking was. 

Maddox managed to pull his jaw up from the floor by the time Ryan surfaced in the pool and spot him hanging out at the edge of it. 

“Here to arrest someone?” Ryan asked, a faint smile on his face and teasing lit to his voice. Maddox laughed. 

“No, just to swim,” he clarified, moving to sit at the edge of the pool and dip his feet and legs into the water next to where Ryan treaded water and kept a bracing hand on the side wall of the pool. 

“Well, don’t hold back on my account, plenty of room for both of us,” He offered, being the only one in the pool right then. He didn’t move away, however. Maddox’s heart beat a little faster. 

“... Can’t. Gotta wait for the instructor, and I’m just a little early,” Maddox explained. He watched the thoughtful expression come over Ryan’s face. Being as much a swimmer as he seemed to be, Maddox didn’t doubt he knew the schedule for events at the pool. The only thing that needed an instructor going on that day was the beginner’s swimming class in the next thirty minutes. 

“You don’t know how to swim?” Ryan asked once he reached the conclusion, seemingly startled by that revelation. Maddox shrugged. 

“Not much use for it on most ships. Or in deep space,” Maddox said. It wasn’t a requirement for the physicals at the academy, either. 

Ryan dipped beneath the water just a little, so only his eyes were above the line of it as he seemed to think that information over. _He_ was clearly a swimmer, the way he cut through the water like a fish. After a few moments to think he half pulled himself out of the water again, pillowing his arms on the side of the pool to rest his chin there and look up at Maddox better. 

“What made you want to learn?” Ryan asked. It was a conversation. An actual friendly conversation between them. Maddox was emboldened by that offer.

“I saw there were lessons offered, and I was free when they were. Doctor Osolong also recommended it.”

“Ha. Yeah, He’s… usually here at this time too. His turn to be on call tonight,” Ryan said, and while there was a certain fondness in his voice he didn’t sound like a man in love or anything. Which was good to know, because in that short conversation Maddox also understood quickly that the other doctor had a thing for Ryan. 

You snooze, you lose. 

He spent the next thirty minutes talking to Ryan, just talking. Something he wanted to do from the start. There was no good opening for asking Ryan out to dinner, but it wasn’t bad to just talk to him, to get to know him beyond the man briefly paranoid that Maddox was evil. 

 

V.  
Maddox was going to stab Levi with a bottle this time. 

He ran into Ryan in the cafeteria again, this time on off hours. There was no need for them to share a table but they did none the less, just to talk a bit. Maddox even had a good opening to lead into asking Ryan to dinner. 

“... Doctor Dalias, I was wondering-”

“DOCTOR DALIAS!” 

Levi appeared like a specter of misfortune and narcissism, slamming all his hands on the cafeteria table between them and leaning in so he could dominate Ryan’s field of vision and take as much of his attention as he could. 

“Doctor Dalias!! I MUST speak with you! I fear I may have contracted xeroderma pigmentosum!!” Levi said with a grave alarm. The doctor stared at him for a few seconds, chewing the bite of salad he had already taken while he figured out where to even start with Levi, eyes narrowed. 

“Alright, Levi,” He began finally, sighing. “ _First off_ , xeroderma pigmentosum is a genetic condition, you can’t _contract_ it. You’re born with it. Second off… your species doesn’t even have the gene structure to allow for that mutation.”

“But I asked the Interface-!”

Ryan sighed again, more forcefully this time, before standing and grabbing Levi’s arm. Unlike last time he was pulled away he got to finish his food first. Shooting Maddox an apologetic look, Ryan led Levi away to the infirmary to further explain how there was no possible way he could have the condition he thought and to also stop diagnosing himself with the interface. 

Maddox was going to stab Levi, and that was that.

* * *

Doctor Urvidian as standing at the front desk and speaking with Jane when Commander Maddox practically marched through the doors and past them without even so much as a good afternoon. He headed back to where Doctor Dalias was working, and both Horace and Jane stopped their conversation to watch the short exchange.

“Ryan?” Maddox asked, getting the other man’s attention. Ryan looked up and gave him a smile. 

“Hello, David. Is there something that brings you in today…?” Ryan glanced between Maddox and the direction of the front desk, which he couldn’t quite see from here his own was.

“Yes, but it isn’t a medical matter,” Maddox replied with determination. “I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me later in the week. I know you normally have the day after tomorrow off of duty and I thought we could spend a pleasant evening together.”

Ryan stared at Maddox for several long minutes, just blinking, surprised. 

“... Are you … asking me … on a date?”

“Yes, I am.”

Jane cursed under her breath. 

“... Sure.” Ryan replied slowly, his smile returning. Pleased. Surprised. “It’s a date.”

“Thank you. I need to return to my rounds but I’ll message you over the comms to figure out an exact time as soon as I have a moment. Have a good day, Ryan.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, you too.”

Jane slid Doctor Urvidian several credits while Maddox marched by. 

“I can’t believe you got that one right. I thought Doctor Osolong was a sure thing to get there first,” Jane groused. 

Doctor Urvidian took the credits, sliding them into the pocket of his coat. 

“Nurse Johns - any man who has spent that long looking and not acting is only interested in looking in the first place.”


End file.
